


lies will always bite you in the ass

by muggyweather



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 21:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14089923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muggyweather/pseuds/muggyweather
Summary: Another bonding moment gone wrong leads to truths revealed and relationships made, while also showIng that lying just lengthens the process and is really unnecessary.---“When did you get sosensitive?”“We were bonding!”





	lies will always bite you in the ass

**Author's Note:**

> Yo I made another fic I'm sorry it's a mess. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment any constructibe criticism you have :)

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that, at the very least, Lance and Keith were a violent combination. This Keith knew especially, likely from being at the butt of nearly all of Lance's insults, and witnessing their fair share of fights.

This was all very unfortunate considering how smitten Keith had grown towards the blue paladin.

It wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't his intention, and he'd swear it to Pidge thousands of times over until she begged for mercy and they'd fall into companionable silence again as she tapped away at her computer. But there was an element to Lance's smirky grin, to the twinkle in his dark eyes, to the inflection of every word he spoke regardless of context, that had seized Keith and dragged him into the abyss of horrible, never-to-be-requited affections.

He was, as Pidge would say, 'whipped'.

As he knew this, he carefully cherished their moments of peace, where he could actually see them getting along and getting over Lance's rival complex. For instance, where they were now, sitting back to back on the commons couch and fiddling with their respective technology in the softest of silences. Every now and then Lance would gently nudge Keith from his reading with his elbow and bring around the tablet to show him a funny picture or gif (Pidge, bless her soul, had a habit on Earth of saving memes she liked on her superior computer storage, so while some of them didn't make sense, as they pertained to a more techy sense of humour, the memes were within reach for their viewing pleasure). Keith would laugh or snort or just mutter a confused "Why," Lance would make a face, and then they'd resume their tasks. Sometimes Keith would read aloud a particularly amusing sentence (as amusing as Altean biographies could be) and Lance would bark a laugh or comment on it and Keith would feel warmth in his chest as he continued reading, trying to resist the urge to skim through the text for more amusing sentences versus reading it properly.

Originally the other Paladins had been in the room, but they went off to do their own tasks— Hunk needed to stress bake since they'd just had a particularly dangerous mission the day before and still needed to reprieve himself from the anxiety it cost him, Pidge was having Shark Week issues and holed herself up in her room to suffer in peace, and Shiro was with Allura and Coran in the control room discussing ways to avoid risky missions like their last. This, of course, left Keith and Lance all alone. And while Keith knew this didn't matter, that they had been doing their whole exchange before the room had emptied, it didn't save Keith from the almost electrical charge of nerves that jittered beneath his skin just by being alone with the confusing Cuban.

To Keith's dismay, their peace, predictably, didn't last.

Keith had just read aloud a sentence from the biography about how the person it was written about (he vaguely remembered Coran telling him it was of one of his ancestors when he recommended to him) had accidentally called the ruler of a planet ugly with his body language and nearly fueled a new war, and Lance, in an almost instinctual manner, muttered "But was the ruler as ugly as your mullet?"

_We were getting along! We were bonding!_ It was more so the fact that Lance chose to forfeit their compatibility for being a dick that pissed Keith off rather than the insult itself. He threw himself forward and spun around, taking pride in the way Lance nearly fell back without Keith's back to lean against. "What's your deal?" Lance cried as he righted himself, the phone he'd been using already tossed aside on the cushion of the seat.

Keith felt his lips twist into a fearsome frown as he huffed, "You're the one insulting me when we were getting along!"

"It was banter!" Lance defended, his arms half moving as if to cross his arms before he settled for gripping the thighs that draped off of the seat as he moved into a normal seating position. "We always banter!"

"Says you, what we 'always do' is let you insult me as if I'm not gonna bite back! I'm not an idiot!"

"I never said you were, asshole."

At this point, Keith was conscious of other Paladins standing outside the common room entrances (we'll leave the explanation at 'Galra senses'), but he couldn't find it in himself to care. "But I'm an asshole for defending myself? What kind of--"

“When did you get so _sensitive?_ ”

_“We were bonding!”_

Lance's hands flew up to clench his hair, the force making him lean back as he groaned in frustration. "Oh my-- _Dios Mio,_ Keith, why do you always get so _insufferable?_ "

"Well _I don't know,_ Lance, why are you always such a _dick?_ " Keith was honestly fed up, and he had a feeling that when this was over he'd need to spend some time in the training room to calm down. “What did I ever even _do_ to you?”

Lance threw his hands up in exasperation. "Absolutely nothing! You've done absolutely nothing, I only fight with you to try and hide how _freaking gay_ I am for you!"

The following abated silence was almost startling. 

_Okay, maybe I won't need to visit the training room,_ Keith considered as he felt all of his anger drain from him, replaced with a heated flush. From outside the room, he could hear a muttered "Oh, shit," and an explosive choke of surprise (Hunk and Pidge, respectively).

It didn't take long for Lance to realize what he said, growing a red that would rival Keith's own. “Oh… oh no.”

It was only when Lance had already half darted out of the room that Keith had regained enough of his senses to cry out a startled “Wait, wait— _Lance!_ ” But it was too late because he was already gone.

Almost sheepishly, Pidge and Hunk entered the room together, still glancing back into the entryway Lance had just dashed through. Hunk looked to Keith nervously. "You might want to go after him. Pidge caught me up on your side of the situation." Pidge nodded feebly beside him, in both agreement and admittance.

Keith, supposing he couldn't go wrong with three sources directing him to do the same thing (the third resource being his instinct, which he wouldn't have listed if not for it coinciding with his fellow Paladins' suggestions), indeed took off after the Blue Paladin, the Yellow and Green offering soft, near worried phrases of good luck.

Unfortunately, Lance had proved to be more elusive than previously determined. He wasn't in his room, where the scent of him settled so strongly from his residence that it startled Keith for a moment before he realized the room was empty. He wasn't with Blue, from whom he could feel faint waves of sympathy and support, though she couldn't tell him where he was even if she knew. He wasn't in the common room, the bridge, the kitchen, anywhere. It seemed he put a lot of effort into disappearing.

Exhausted and discouraged, Keith took to wandering the halls in the hopes that he'd find Lance there because he had to be somewhere God damn it. Except when he didn't turn up once again after half an hour of part searching, part getting frustrated of continuously finding himself in the same corridor as three minutes ago, he slumped against the wall. _Where could he be?_ At this point Keith was out of ideas. He'd checked , except maybe the other Paladins rooms and the tr–

_The training deck._

Energy seemingly restored, Keith sprang to his feet, dashing through what he hoped was the hallway that led back to that which housed the rooms of the Paladins. Thankfully he was right and he barreled on through, past the Commons (despite Allura scolding him against his sprinting in fear that he'd slip on the Castle's smooth flooring) and down the hall that led to the training deck. Sure enough, he could hear the sounds of sparring inside in the form of blaster shots, grunts, and the faint whirring of the Gladiator. Hesitantly, he let the door slide open.

Which was a mistake because the moment Lance came into view, a spare t-shirt damp and stuck to his body, legging-clad legs flying, skin shimmering with exertion-produced sweat, Keith could nearly feel his soul and all motivations escape his body, leaving him wanting to just stare at the paladin forever in all his gross sweaty glory.

Lance, however, had other plans, noticing him the moment the door opened. With a startled cry, he was nearly jabbed by the gladiator in his distraction, and he hastily disabling the training sequence.

“I'm surprised you didn't turn up earlier to train yourself,” he joked, picking up the small towel that lay with his other things and using it to pat the worst of the sweat from his skin before settling it around his neck. “I should've known you were trying to avoid me. Was I taking too long?”

_Wait… what?_ “Lance, I wasn't avoiding you. I was looking for you. I didn't expect you to be in here, though.”

Something about Lance's flush from training seemed to darken. “Oh.”

This was all the fuel Keith's courage needed, apparently. “Lance, what you said in the Common Area—”

He was cut off by an awkward laugh. “I promise dude,” Lance spoke, in a carefully awkward tone, “That wasn't supposed to come out and I'm really sorry if it weirded you out, we can just pretend it never hap—”

“Lance I just wanted to know if it was true,” Keith murmured, warm flush returning to almost suffocatingly cloud him. “… Was it?”

Lance didn't reply, letting a weighted silence settle between the two horrible flushed Paladins. Finally, gripping his shoulder in what Keith perceived as insecurity, he muttered a soft, low, “Yeah.”

And by that point Keith couldn't reign himself in no matter how hard he tried as he basically flew forward into Lance, arms tangling around him like jungle vines as he repeated over and over, “Stupid, stupid, I thought you hated me you idiot! Why…”

Pulled from the startled reverie Keith's aggressive affection put him in, Lance grabbed his shoulders and pulled him from his body, gaping in disbelief. “Wait! You like me back? _Since when?_ ” 

“Since the Garrison. Even though you were a cocky shit that flirted too much with the girls in our class.”

The disbelief faded slightly into annoyance. “ _I thought you didn't remember me from the Garrison?_ ”

“I told you I remembered you were a pilot! I just may have omitted some truths,” Keith admitted, guilty. “I didn't want to reveal too much. But since when did you like me?”

Now it was Lance's turn to look vaguely guilty. “… the ‘Bonding Moment’?”

_“You remember the Bonding Moment?”_

 

"Well that took way too long," Hunk noted from outside the Common Room door. Pidge sighed deeply beside him.

“You have no idea. Lovesick Keith is way less fun than cryptid Keith.”

“At least it finally happened,” Hunk added, standing up. “Now we might wanna leave before Keith yells at us, he probably knows we're out here.”

“Hell yeah I do,” Keith muttered as the door slid open, Lance in tow. Hunk and Pidge definitely did _not_ get the shit scared out of them. “Now if you'll excuse me,” Keith muttered, pushing through the Paladins, “Lance and I need to have an eavesdropper free conversation.”

The Pala-duo grinned. “If it means an end to being barraged by the pair of you, of course.”

Lance laughed. “But will the PDA be worth it?” he commented as he swooped in to kiss Keith's cheek. Keith only scowled. 

“I'm still mad you lied about the Bonding Moment.”

“… I'm sorry? I'll make up for it. Believe me.” A Cheshire grin spread across his face, and Keith was already flushing again.

“You better,” was all he said as he pulled Lance along, Pidge and Hunk's laughter fading as they walked off.

**Author's Note:**

> Good job, you made it! Feel free to leave kudos or comments, I hope it wasn't too illegible lol
> 
> I'm on tumblr! @theoreticaleclipse
> 
> (Now for a personal plea, I'd be honoured if you read it! :D )
> 
> ALSO, of you enjoyed reading this fic or any other of mine for more than just the characters, I'll tell you now I'm actually working towards writing my own original story! 
> 
> It's all about Guardian Angels and monsters called Nightmares, and features many lgbt characters (for instance, the main character is aro/ace, her friend is a gay man, etc). It features fantasy and action elements, and the main character (in my opinion) is lovably snarky and cynical.
> 
> Currently it's only on Wattpad (ik, ik, wattpad is mostly fanfic and the same romance plots over and over, but I needed a safe place to put it! Some day I may see about making it its own website, but I'll have to look more into copyright stuff), and, for those interested, it's called Greener Pastures by muggyweather (the name on the cover, however, is R. N. Muller- that's the name I write my books under lmao).
> 
> Also, fair warning, this is actually the 5th time I've tried writing this story over the past several years, and what I'm posting is technically the draft. I'm hoping that some semblance of an audience will convince me to finally write it all the way through.
> 
> Here's a link below if you're interested, I'll be trying to sort out a consistent posting schedule for it soon!
> 
>  https://my.w.tt/oTUYJtQDRO


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